MFA Oil buys former Mamtek site

Moberly's mystery buyer for the former Mamtek property has been revealed to be the Columbia-based MFA Oil Company.

Back on Nov. 22, the MMI reported that the Moberly City Council had voted, during a closed executive session on Nov. 18, to "[authorize] the city's legal counsel to approve on behalf of the city an authorization for the sale of certain real property," revealed by City Manager Andy Morris to be the 33-acre Mamtek property.

On Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 3), it was revealed that the farmer-owned fuel, lubricant, and propane cooperative is the name on the contract to purchase said commercial site.

MFA Oil COO Mark Fenner noted that the Mamtek property allows for "some strategic opportunities" for the company moving forward.

"The site has convenient access to 63 Highway, and will allow us to upgrade some of our current support operations, and explore future business opportunities," he said.

MFA Oil spokesman Tom May told the MMI on Wednesday morning that the cooperative is still in the process of getting meetings together to determine what sort of business they will actually be putting out at the new Moberly locale, but said that due to size, they would be able to support "multiple things" there. The property does include the 28,000-foot, partially-constructed warehouse building and large canopy structure built before Mamtek's litigation issues arose.

"One of the things we're looking at is the canopied area being a truck repair center," May said. He also mentioned support services in the warehouse area, an oil distribution center, and/or an expansion area for their current Biomass arm, which works in the wastewater treatment and pellet furnace fields.

"We've [also] got some structures in Columbia that are in need of repair," May said. "It would make sense to possible move some of those [to Moberly]."

It is anticipated that the property will have to take on a fairly significant developmental investment — May said, "millions of dollars to build the property out" — before it is able to sustain operations. In the meantime, the bankruptcy court has approved the sale of the property to MFA Oil. A closing date for such, however, is yet to be set, so May said that the cooperative is not disclosing the price they are paying for the property.

"It will definitely bring jobs to Moberly," May said, though he clarified that he was unable to accurately note exactly how many without first knowing what type of facilities would be housed here. The same can be said of the formal name to be associated with the site.

"We've been working for months now to come up with something," he said, when asked how long MFA had been in contact with the city regarding the property. "The Moberly Economic folks and the city manager have all been great to work with."

"We are excited about MFA Oil's purchase of this property and with moving forward to make this site an economic engine for Moberly," said Corey Mehaffy, President of the Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation, on Tuesday. "MFA Oil has been a good corporate citizen in Moberly with their retail presence, and through the MFA Oil Foundation grants and scholarships that [have] benefited our community."

May said citizens should anticipate seeing activity out at the site as early as spring or summer 2014.

"It will probably take quite a while to get the estimates on things," he said. "There is some basic infrastructure there that will allow them to move pretty quickly when they do get the architects and construction companies up there, though."

Said Fenner: "We look forward to partnering with the city of Moberly to turn this property into [the] economic engine that it was originally designed to be."

"I think it's a win-win," added May, of the situation. "We've had a great partnership with the city for a long time. It's a great central location, where we can bring a lot of people in. There aren't any unknowns.